In 2025, seven Premier League managers were relieved of their duties. It's a particularly volatile occupation, just ask Nottingham Forest fans who binned two managers in 2025 despite one of their best seasons in recent history.
Their were plenty of success stories too, however. With the likes of Slot, Glasner and Howe winning their first trophies in England, Emery and Iraola proving to be brilliantly consistent and Arteta knocking at the door with Arsenal and taking the club deep in the Champions League.
Read on to see the two picks our staff writers have made when it comes to the very best.
Andoni Iraola: Led Bournemouth to back-to-back best points tallies in the top flight – people don’t realise how hard that is to do at Dean Court (@markwhlte)
This was the year that one man, doubted from the outset, rose above all others to prove just what a genius he was, even after losing key allies along the way. But enough about Alan Carr’s Celebrity Traitors victory – Andoni Iraola’s had a decent 12 months at Bournemouth, too.
The Basque boss has been near flawless since arriving in 2023 – without his assistant manager because of visa issues, and with one recognised midfielder due to injuries. He then lost his star striker and four of his back five within three windows. Astonishingly, he led Bournemouth to back-to-back best points tallies in the top flight – people don’t realise how hard that is to do at Dean Court. Eddie Howe took the club to the top so quickly that the infrastructure hadn’t caught up.
Iraola doesn’t have the luxury of an elite academy for squad depth. He’s only just gotten into a new training ground, while the idea of Bournemouth playing in Europe would have been ludicrous even a decade ago. Yet he’s dragging a team up the table who scraped clear of relegation the year before he got there, while selling players to Real Madrid and PSG.
Doubters will put it down to recruitment. To that, I point not only at Milos Kerkez’s Liverpool woes, but bit-part winger Ryan Christie blossoming in a box-to-box role, and Dango Ouattara, often maligned under Gary O’Neil yet reshaped into both a latter-day Roberto Carlos and a deadly target man during different injury crises.
Best of all. Iraola plays the kind of football that gets bums off seats. In the long-throw renaissance, he’s brave enough to defend with 10 players in Liverpool’s half – and his press is actually used as a blueprint by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta.
Howe led the Cherries from 92nd to ninth in the English game. Fans I know hold Iraola in similar esteem. That’s more bonkers than any trophy.
Oliver Glasner: Won Palace's first every trophy while playing tactically flexible and exciting football, and giving young talent opportunities (@EdMcCambridge)
Like most fans, FFT isn’t used to praising managers. Our Monday mornings tend to start with a coffee and a barbaric mauling of whoever oversaw the weekend’s biggest stinker. But hey, we’re starting our New Year’s resolutions early.
A couple of names immediately spring to mind. Regis Le Bris’ quiet transformation of Sunderland has been incredible. That his name also sounds like a course on a tasting menu earns bonus points. But I’ll go for the Archduke of Croydon, Oliver Glasner – nothing short of sensational again in 2025.
It would be daft not to start with the FA Cup triumph, which culminated in a deserved victory over juggernauts Manchester City. In overseeing that run, he delivered a first major trophy in 120 years of club history, plus European football.
“I told my players the biggest achievement isn’t lifting this trophy,” he said after, “but that we’ve given our fans a moment they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”
Pump it into our veins! Other minnows have won domestic trophies despite poor league campaigns (Wigan, we’re looking at you), but Glasner ensured the cup run didn’t come at that expense, as Palace finished 2024-25 on a record 53 points. Victims of their own success, it appeared as if they’d be picked apart in the summer.
Glasner made a crucial intervention in Marc Guehi’s transfer saga after seeing another key man, Eberechi Eze, leave for Arsenal. Guehi may well leave on a free in 2026, but if they win the Conference League it will have been worth it. Any doubters need only remind themselves of October’s loss at Everton, which ended a club-record run of 19 games unbeaten.
He’s done all of this while playing tactically flexible and exciting football, and giving young talent – including the phenomenal Adam Wharton – opportunities to hone their talent at the highest level. In short, he’s been superb.
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